3. Troubleshooting Startup Problems After Logon

If your computer fails immediately after a user logs on, use the process illustrated in Figure 9
to identify and disable the failing startup application to allow the
user to log on successfully. If the problem occurs immediately after
updating or installing an application, try uninstalling that
application.

Figure 9. Follow this process to troubleshoot startup problems that occur after logon.

How to Temporarily Disable Startup Applications and Processes

If
a problem occurs after installing new software, you can temporarily
disable or uninstall the application to verify that the application is
the source of the problem.

Problems
with applications that run at startup can cause logon delays or even
prevent you from completing Windows startup in normal mode. The
following subsections provide techniques for temporarily disabling startup applications.

HOW TO DISABLE STARTUP APPLICATIONS USING THE SHIFT KEY

One
way you can simplify your configuration is to disable startup
applications. By holding down the Shift key during the logon process,
you can prevent the operating system from running startup programs or
shortcuts in the following folders:

To
disable the applications or shortcuts in the preceding folders, you
must hold down the Shift key until the desktop icons appear. Holding
down the Shift key is a better alternative than temporarily deleting or
moving programs and shortcuts, because this procedure affects only the
current user session.

To use the Shift
key to disable applications and shortcuts in startup folders, log off
the computer and then log on again. Immediately press and hold down the
Shift key. Continue to hold down the Shift key until the desktop icons
appear. If you can log on successfully, you have isolated the cause of
the problem to your startup applications. Next, you should use the
System Configuration utility to temporarily
disable applications one by one until you identify the cause of the
problem. With the cause of the problem identified, you can fix the
application or permanently remove it from your startup programs.

HOW TO DISABLE STARTUP PROGRAMS USING THE SYSTEM CONFIGURATION UTILITY

The
System Configuration utility allows you to disable startup applications
individually or several at a time. To disable a startup program by
using the System Configuration utility, follow these steps:

Click Start, type msconfig, and then press Enter.

You can disable all or selective startup applications:

To
disable all startup applications, click the General tab, click
Selective Startup, and then clear the Load Startup Items check box.

To
disable specific startup items, click the Startup tab and then clear
the check boxes that correspond to the items you want to disable
temporarily. You can also click Disable All on the Startup tab to
disable all items.

To change a
startup setting permanently, you must move or delete startup shortcuts,
change a Group Policy setting, or uninstall the application that added
the startup application.

HOW TO DISABLE STARTUP APPLICATIONS CONFIGURED USING GROUP POLICY OR LOGON SCRIPTS

You
can use the Group Policy snap-in to disable applications that run at
startup. Local Group Policy can be applied to computers, in which case
you need to edit the Group Policy settings on the computer that you are troubleshooting.
Group Policy objects (GPOs) are frequently applied within AD DS
domains, in which case you need to connect to the domain to edit the
appropriate policy. Before modifying domain Group Policy settings, you
should follow the steps described later in this section to disconnect
the computer you are troubleshooting from the network to determine
whether the problem is related to domain Group Policy settings.

To disable startup applications by using the Group Policy Management Editor snap-in, follow these steps:

Double-click Run These Programs At User Logon, which is a Group Policy setting. Next, do one of the following:

To disable all startup applications configured by that policy, click Disabled.

To
selectively disable individual programs that are listed in the
computer-specific or user-specific policy, click Show. In the Show
Contents dialog box, select a program to disable and then click Remove.

You can change additional Group Policy settings that might help you simplify your computer configuration when you are troubleshooting
startup problems by enabling the Do Not Process The Run Once List
policy. If you enable this Group Policy setting, the computer ignores
the programs listed in the following RunOnce subkeys the next time a
user logs on to the computer:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

Additionally,
you can enable the Group Policy setting Do Not Process The Legacy Run
List to disable the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run subkey
that startup applications might use. The programs listed in this subkey
are a customized list of programs that were configured by using the
System Policy Editor for Windows NT 4.0 or earlier versions. If you
enable this Group Policy setting, Windows ignores the programs listed in
this subkey when you start your computer. If you disable or do not
configure this Group Policy setting, Windows processes the customized
run list that is contained in this registry subkey when you start the
computer.

Group Policy changes do not always take effect
immediately. You can use the Gpupdate (Gpupdate.exe) tool to refresh
local Group Policy changes to computer and user policies. After you
refresh the policy, you can use the Group Policy Result (Gpresult.exe)
tool to verify that the updated settings are in effect.

Group
Policy settings can be applied locally or to an entire domain. To
determine how settings are applied to a specific computer, use the
Resultant Set Of Policy (Rsop.msc) tool. Then, edit those Group Policy
objects to apply a change. For the purpose of isolating the source of
the problem, you can prevent Group Policy, logon scripts, roaming user
profiles, scheduled tasks, and network-related issues from affecting
your troubleshooting by temporarily disabling the network adapter and then logging on by using a local computer account.

If
local and domain Group Policy settings do not reveal the source of the
startup problem, the application may be started by a logon script. Logon
scripts are configured in the local or domain user properties. To view
the logon script, open Computer Management and then view the user's
properties. Then click the Profile tab. Make note of the path to the
logon script and edit it in a tool such as Notepad to determine whether
any startup applications are configured.

How to Permanently Disable Startup Applications and Processes

You can permanently disable a startup application in several ways, explained in the following sections.

UNINSTALL THE APPLICATION

If
you find that recently installed software causes system instability or
if error messages consistently point to a specific application, you can
use Uninstall A Program under Programs in Control Panel to uninstall the
software. If the application is required, you can install it in a lab
environment and perform additional testing before reinstalling it on
production computers.

MANUALLY REMOVE THE ENTRY

You
can manually delete shortcuts from the Startup folder, remove startup
entries from the registry, remove entries from Group Policy or logon
scripts, or disable a service.